Saturday, September 9, 2017

Battle of Little Bighorn II, Texas-Style...

Credit: Tony Gutierrez-Associated Press

Rangers 11, Yankees 5...

It felt like the Battle of Little Bighorn but unfortunately the Yankees were Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment. I had hoped the momentum from Thursday's win over the Baltimore Orioles would carry over to Friday night in Texas. Yeah, right. The Yankees were unable to hold a lead against the Rangers and then were overwhelmed in defeat.The game started right when the Yankees broke through with multiple runs in the top of the 2nd inning. It can be argued that they should have scored more runs in the inning but still, you'd think a 4-0 lead with Masahiro Tanaka on the mound represented good odds.

Credit: Tony Gutierrez-Associated Press

The inning started with Matt Holliday's single up the middle to center field. Didi Gregorius reached base on a fielder's choice but a throwing error (flip wide of second) by Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor failed to force Holliday at second so two runners on and no outs. Chase Headley lined a single to right and the bases were loaded. Jacoby Ellsbury lined a single to right just over the head of a leaping Odor and Holliday scored the game's first run. Todd Frazier was hit by a pitch (left front foot) from Rangers starter Martin Perez which brought Gregorius home to score. After a coaching visit to the mound, Perez struck out Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge. Gary Sanchez, in his first game back after the three-game suspension, hit a single to left through the hole at short. Headley and Ellsbury both came home to score, but Todd Frazier was tagged out at third to end the inning. 4-0, Yankees.

Credit: Associated Press

In the bottom of the 2nd, Masahiro Tanaka fell behind lead-off hitter Nomar Mazara on a 3-1 count. Mazara found the pitch he wanted and sent it high into the second deck in right. Tanaka was able to retire the next three hitters, the last two by strikeout. On to the 3rd. Starlin Castro reached base on a fielding error by third baseman Joey Gallo when the ball glanced off his glove into left field. Matt Holliday hit into a double play which was unfortunate because Didi Gregorius followed with his 21st home run (a high fly to right). The solo home run is a new career high for Didi. The Yankees were up, 5-1. From there, the Rangers started to chip away. In the bottom of the 3rd, Robinson Chirinos hit a one-out single to center past a diving Didi Gregorius. Delino DeShields doubled down the left field line into the corner, scoring Chirinos. After Shin-Soo Choo lined out to center for the second out, with DeShields moving to third, Elvis Andrus doubled down the left field line, a high hop over Todd Frazier's glove, to score DeShields. A wild pitch advanced Andrus to third, but Tanaka was able to strike out Nomar Mazara to end the inning. Yankees still led, 5-3. The Yankees had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the 4th inning but Starlin Castro popped out to second baseman Rougned Odor in shallow right to waste a huge opportunity. After the Yankees went down quietly in the top of the 5th, the Rangers struck hard. Rougned Odor got it started with a single to right. Robinson Chirinos doubled down the left line, scoring Odor from first. It was a one-run game. Delino DeShields singled to left, moving Chirinos to third. With Shin-Soo Choo at the plate, a wild pitch by Masahiro Tanaka (low pitch that got under El Gary's glove) freed Chirinos to come home and score the tying run. Choo doubled to left on a high fly that Brett Gardner almost caught but he "heard" the wall. DeShields moved to third. Manager Joe Girardi had seen enough of Tanaka and made the switch to bring in Tommy Kahnle. Elvis Andrus greeted Kahnle with a single to right, scoring both DeShields and Chirinos. Starlin Castro tried diving for the ball but came up just short. The Rangers had taken a 7-5 lead. Kahnle induced Nomar Mazara to hit into a double play, but a single to center by Carlos Gomez ended his latest appearance. Chasen Shreve came in and struck out Joey Gallo to finally end the painful inning.While the Yankees were unable to get anything going offensively against Martin Perez and the Texas bullpen, the Rangers struck again in the bottom of the 7th inning to put the game away. It was the kill shot to Custer's head. With Caleb Smith taking over for Shreve, Shin-Soo Choo singled to left. While Elvis Andrus was batting, Smith threw a wild pitch that bounced in the dirt past Gary Sanchez and Choo advanced to second. Andrus subsequently walked. Nomar Mazara's hard single to the right field wall loaded the bases, bringing an end to Smith's stay. Ben Heller entered the game in relief of Smith and the Rangers inserted pinch-runner Jared Hoying at first for Mazara. Carlos Gomez hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Choo. With Joey Gallo batting, Heller threw the second wild pitch of the inning (smh) and Andrus moved to third, beating the throw from Gary Sanchez. Gallo's single to right scored Andrus. Hoying moved to second. Heller got the second out of the inning when he struck out Mike Napoli. However, Rougned Odor's bases-clearing triple to right increased the Rangers' lead to 11-5. Heller's subsequent walk of Robinson Chirinos ended his unsuccessful appearance. Bryan Mitchell came in to finally end the inning, but the bloody massacre had been completed. The Yankees went down meekly from there, including three strikeouts in the top of the 9th, sending the Rangers into celebration on the field.

Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

This was a very ugly loss. It had started to feel that Masahiro Tanaka was back on track after his struggles earlier in the season but this game reopened doubts. It was the kind of game that makes one hope that Tanaka opts out of his contract at the end of the year. But of course the bullpen did him no favors, nor did the team's hitters. Michael Kay made a good observation about why Joe Girardi would go with second tier relievers when the game was still tight. I wondered the same thing when they brought in Caleb Smith who was followed by Ben Heller when Aroldis Chapman, Dellin Betances and David Robertson were rested and ready in the pen.

Sadly, the Boston Red Sox throttled the Tampa Bay Rays, 9-3, to increase their lead in the AL East to 4 1/2 games. The Yankees (75-65) maintained their 4 1/2 game edge over the Baltimore Orioles. The O's were the latest victim of the Cleveland Indian's winning streak which now stands at 16 games (MLB's longest streak since 2002). The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-5, to move within 1 1/2 games of the Yankees in the Wild Card Standings.

Odds & Ends...

As a result of Hurricane Irma, the Yankees' series with the Tampa Bay Rays this week (Monday through Wednesday) will be played at Citi Field in Queens instead of Tropicana Field in St Petersburg, FL. There had been speculation that the games would be played in Chicago but it makes sense to use the Mets' turf since the Rays are currently in Boston and most of he players are traveling with their families due to the impending storm in Florida. Lucas Duda at home in Citi Field...has a certain ring of deja vu to it.

Credit: Jim McIsaac-Getty Images

Austin Romine's original two-game suspension for the Motor City Brawl has been reduced to one game (last night). I am glad the suspensions are behind us. Erik Kratz, thanks for riding the bench and please don't let the door hit you on the way out.The Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders evened their play-off series with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs at one with a 4-2 victory last night. Chance Adams was the winner. He pitched five innings, allowing five hits and two runs. He walked too many (four) but struck out five. The hitting stars were Miguel Andujar (3-for-5 with two doubles and a RBI) and Mason Williams (2-for-4 with three runs scored). Game 3 is tonight at PNC Field in Moosic, PA. Brady Lail (6-5, 5.17 ERA) gets the start for the RailRiders.The Double A Trenton Thunder pulled off a rare feat when Justus Sheffield and Taylor Widener combined for a no-hitter to beat the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in Game 3 of their play-off series. The Thunder lead the Eastern Division Championship Series, 2 games to 1.

Have a great Saturday! I'm hoping y'all get a win down deepinaharta Texas! Go Yankees!